I'm happy to announce that the new changes to the African Kingdom expansion go live today. This update sees a re-work of the African culture and changes how the African Kingdom campaign will be played. [h2]Overview[/h2] After completing the [b]Tribes of Gaul[/b] campaign, I felt that the [b]African Kingdom[/b] campaign was lacking. Where in the Gaul campaign you had a wide range of resources and buildings, the African campaign mostly used a mixture of Roman and African resources and buildings. It felt like the African campaign focused too much on Rome. While Rome is important and still plays a role in Africa, I wanted the African people, along with their buildings and resources to be the primary focus of the campaign. With these changes I'm very happy with how the campaign now plays (and I hope you will be too!) [h2]The Tribal Hunters[/h2] With all of the new buildings and resources, it felt like the two original groups (the [b]Tribesmen[/b] and [b]Tribal Nobles[/b]) just weren't enough. Added in this update is a brand new group of citizens - the [b]Tribal Hunters[/b] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/39220494/674118b659aef1cd4cb5a4308e05d1fa6c2d5d93.jpg[/img] These hunters form the mid level part of African society. Working across a range of industries and civic services in the village. Much like the tribesmen and nobles, they have [b]four dwelling levels[/b] and will require progressively more resources and civic services to upgrade. Multiple missions in the campaign will have you focus on growing this group and ensuring they are developing. Resources such as [b]Ebony Trinkets[/b], [b]Spiced Meat[/b] and [b]Tanned Hides[/b] will be in high demand from this group. [h2]New Resources[/h2] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/39220494/c99446e7061be5325af773c0222549a5bee50b4c.jpg[/img] A massive part of this update is the [b]introduction of over a dozen new resources.[/b] Each of these resources has been created to either be a stand-alone resource, or a resource that requires one or more steps of processing to create a final product. Without spoiling too much, here are a few new resources that have been created. [h3]Ebony[/h3] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/39220494/6a36e87b0557fd3db96bedce7ca6491c7f283b37.jpg[/img] Created at a [b]Ebony Crafter[/b] and requires [b]Wood[/b]. Ebony is used to create [b]Ebony Trinkets[/b] which is highly desired by the [b]Tribal Hunters[/b] and used as a component in the creation of [b]Tribal Jewelry[/b]. [h3]Earthenware[/h3] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/39220494/9614ce672d1d3322a78a61d41da57f627c468a70.jpg[/img] Created at a [b]Ceramic Artist[/b], this resource is highly desired by the [b]Tribal Nobles[/b] and is crafted via a combination of [b]Water[/b] and [b]Rough Clay[/b], the latter being collected from a [b]Clay Mine[/b] [h3]Tribal Bread[/h3] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/39220494/64348ec0f8954d927b1d8ec124456f6c6e4a70fa.jpg[/img] Required by [b]Tribesmen[/b] and created via a combination of [b]Barley[/b], [b]Millet[/b] and [b]Sorghum[/b] at the [b]Tribal Bakery[/b]. To upgrade your tribesmen's dwelling you'll need a good supply of bread to make them happy. [h3]Spice[/h3] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/39220494/17d4b1f0ab71839ec800dfcdc3da0bc0214bdefc.jpg[/img] Created at a slow but stead rate from the [b]Spicemaker[/b]. Multiple spices were made in the African region and they were both traded to Rome and used locally for the creation of [b]Spiced Meat[/b] [h2]New Industries & Building[/h2] To facilitate the creation of all these new resources, I've added a range of new industrial buildings. You'll have to play the campaign to get to know each of them, but here's a few screenshots of several related buildings connected together to create these new resources. [h3]Spiced Meat[/h3] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/39220494/a2fe6b62004f74ba3fde2343e78c78c85b76ba2c.jpg[/img] The newly added [b]Game Hunter[/b] will produce a volume of [b]Game Meat[/b] for the village. This meat, along with [b]Spices[/b] produced by the new [b]Spicemaker[/b] building will be taken to the [b]Village Cookery[/b] to create [b]Spiced Meat[/b] [h3]Ivory Trinkets[/h3] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/39220494/77105fed9f6454b53067a8220bac180c0999f848.jpg[/img] Much like before you will create [b]Ivory[/b] from the [b]Tribal Hunters[/b] building and will craft it into [b]Refined Ivory[/b] at the [b]Ivory Crafter[/b], but now you will take that ivory and bring it to the [b]Artisans Retreat[/b] where it will be used to create [b]Ivory Trinkets[/b] for the [b]Tribal Nobles[/b] [h3]Earthenware & Jewelry[/h3] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/39220494/b77eaffd6148a1128ebab7b452b2eeb8520d7e9c.jpg[/img] [b]Earthenware[/b] is created by a combination of [b]Water[/b] and [b]Rough Clay[b]. [b]Rough Clay[/b] can be collected from the [b]Clay Mine[/b] and when brought to the [b]Ceramic Artist[/b] they will produce a steady supply of [b]Earthenware[/b]. [b]Tribal Jewelry[/b] on the other hand required [b]Ebony[/b] (created by an [b]Ebony Crafter[/b]) and [b]Precious Stones[/b]. You'll have your [b]Mineral Shaper[/b] create these items by collecting [b]stone[/b] and prospecting them into gems. The [b]Master Craftsmen[/b] building will then be able to produce [b]Tribal Jewelry[/b] [h2]Senate Missions[/h2] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/39220494/86b9c2845f5f75fbdb4099bf4e149e44e7d2e0b2.jpg[/img] Another big feature introduction is the addition of [b]Senate Missions[/b] to the African scenarios. If you've played the Roman or Gaul campaign you'll be familiar with these. From [b]scenario 5 and onwards[/b] you'll be occasionally tasked with a mission by the Senate. Each of these has been custom made for the scenario and ask you to provide goods, services or population growth. These mission provide guidance and help you keep on track with what your ultimate goals for the scenario should be. There are around [b]six[/b] Senate Missions for each of the scenarios. Each scenario has a cap on missions, ranging from only allowing 2 activate in scenario 5 all the way to having 4 in scenario 10. These missions have great rewards, often giving you resources or assistance, however, failing these missions often gives you dire punishments such as taking your resources or reducing your time limit. [h2]Campaign & Gameplay Adjustments[/h2] There are now [b]10 Scenarios[/b] in the campaign. The first three will just focus on African and should get you familiar with all of the social groups and their requirements. From scenario 4 onwards you'll often need to create both African and Roman buildings and resources to satisfy the Senate. The difficulty and time limit for each scenario has been updated. You'll find the difficulty scales better with each scenario. The overall idea being that each scenario should ask a little more of you, requiring new resources and more complex buildings, all of it culminating in scenario 9 and 10 where you need to build a truly massive settlement. [h2]Where to from here?[/h2] After the release ill be watching the forums for feedback and correcting any bugs or balance issues. I'm pretty happy with the time requirements on each scenario, but i'll be looking at tweaks and adjustments over the next few weeks to make sure the scenarios feel challenging but fair. Would love to hear from you guys if you have any feedback. Cheers